If he winds up using screws, he needs to get the panels located, drilled and screwed. Those little clamps, if used with a bit of logic, can save the OP a whole bunch of F-bombs during glue up.
Last edited:
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
fEarful 12/6 kit : a total noob build diary
- Thread starter mambo4
- Start date
Clamps are woodworker’s nightmare...
joke : do you know how many clamps a woodworker need? It’s the right number... plus one
I did a fair bit of chainsaw work a long time ago. Mining exploration. We'd build wall tents, tables, stools, benches and shoring for underground. What I found is a chainsaw for fine woodworking is about as effective as a hand grenade.
I once cut up a player piano in soneone's kitchen with a chainsaw.
1. Too much metal in a player piano
2. 2 stroke engines indoors is smokey
3 . Chainsaws are loud in a kitchen
4. All of that is worth it for the bragging rights
I'm also noob to this build. The PL seemed to do exactly what it needed. Since I was going for a bare finish, I wiped the excess carefully. Later, there was a lot of edge and corner sanding needed. Just throwing this pic out for the non Duratex option.
Man, if the parts seem to be machined incorrectly for goodness sake get back to the supplier. One of two things will happen, either they'll ship you some new pieces (and I doubt they'll want the wrong 'uns back) or else they' ll tell you what you've not understood. Either way your box will be easier and better assembled. I cannot see any downside as you're stuck for adhesive anyway. [sorry, couldn't resist]
If you have everything fitted, holes predrilled, and you have dry assembled the cab with screws, you’ll be fine. Once the pl premium has set up, you can remove the screws and round over edges, if you are going that route. Or you can leave them in.
The screws do the same job as the clamps. The biscuits will help keep things lined up as well. The baffle and back, and port shelf, hold things square. Assembling the baffle and mid chamber first also help.
The braces and spine also help. (If they are in right). Personally, I ad bracing after I build the box.
You can use scrap wood to screw down blocks to your assembly table, (plywood on sawhorses) to hold the cab, and use wedges to tighten. You can also screw the cab down to hold it tight while you are working.
Roof rack straps, ratchet straps, even bailing twine twisted with a stick, can help.
It’s not rocket surgery, but you want to be as prepped as possible before the glue comes out. Pl is slippery stuff, but you have a fair amount of working time. Practice putting it together a few times.
The screws do the same job as the clamps. The biscuits will help keep things lined up as well. The baffle and back, and port shelf, hold things square. Assembling the baffle and mid chamber first also help.
The braces and spine also help. (If they are in right). Personally, I ad bracing after I build the box.
You can use scrap wood to screw down blocks to your assembly table, (plywood on sawhorses) to hold the cab, and use wedges to tighten. You can also screw the cab down to hold it tight while you are working.
Roof rack straps, ratchet straps, even bailing twine twisted with a stick, can help.
It’s not rocket surgery, but you want to be as prepped as possible before the glue comes out. Pl is slippery stuff, but you have a fair amount of working time. Practice putting it together a few times.
Too bad. Just think how many views you could have gotten on YouTube.
It's the baffle setback that is muffed so basically 80% of it is technically scrap. The fact that it is easily salvageable for no extra cost except a little time makes me disappointed that so many take the hard line on the supplier.
Look at it this way. The whole cab design was a forum effort. Leland charges a very keen price on the kits. No doubt he offered Greenboy a small slice. The forum is here holding OP's hand all the way. Give Leland a break!
Hard line? If I were the supplier I would want to know and sort it out - assuming it is a manufacture problem. Apart from anything else supplier needs to know to put something in place to avoid it happening again. It would frustrate me enormously if someone was posting about a claimed problem with my product without giving me the opportunity to sort it out.
yes. New pieces are excessive and a waste of resources in my view.
Quite correct, but the tenor of the opener and quite a few before you says go him to the limit for pefectly fitting parts ( which I have already said is a right, given you are buying a CNC cut kit).
I think I might take a stab at screws - only assembly this weekend. I should be able to do that without permanent damage, right? The same screws can be reused during gluing? Little chance of stripping the screw holes or something?
I have a buddy with some bar clamps to lend , but no corner jigs.. . Another experienced friend suggested installing the braces first, using them instead of the biscuits for baffle alignment. Seems like that could work.
I have a buddy with some bar clamps to lend , but no corner jigs.. . Another experienced friend suggested installing the braces first, using them instead of the biscuits for baffle alignment. Seems like that could work.
I wouldn't be too sure of that...you are driving screws into the edge of 1/2" ply, correct? That's a pretty tentative place for a screw to begin with. And every time you remove and replace a wood screw, you compromise it's holding power quite a bit. In the edge of the plywood, rather than the face, that effect is still more pronounced. It might be not a problem if you're planning for the screws to be only temporary. If you're planning for them to be permanent and they do get 'sloppy', you can loosely fill the hole with pieces of toothpicks or other wood slivers, then shoot a little carpenters glue in there before redriving the screw. That fix will be as effective in holding power as if the screw had never been removed. Edit: Just go ahead and do that process during final assembly for any screws that you intend to be permanent.
If you can be assured of getting the braces in the right spot, then they should help to align the baffle...but then, "that should work" always was one of my mottos.
Last edited:
Get you buddy with the bar clamps to make you up some corner jigs.
Take any 8'' ish square or rectangle of ply. Cut into two triangles, doesn't have to be precise. Cut off a nip of the square corners so the PL can't get it, cut in a 'foot' on the long sides parallel to the short sides for clamp feet. Done.
4 clamps = perfect right angle junction.
Yes, you can back out the screws after the glue sets hard and reuse them. Drill your pilot holes with the boards in the glued position in the clamps. Then proceed with the PL.
I gave you a suggested order of biscuitless rescue construction with screws and clamps a few days ago.
Completely. I regard screwing into the end of ply to be an utter last resort. All to easy for it to break up if the pilots etc aren't just right or the wood quality not 100%. If I did decide to discard the designed construction and glue and screw I would add internal battens, screw into them and put up with the loss of internal volume.
But I am still bemused why there is such enthusiasm for promoting what to me is a bodge up.
